The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c12.s12.8

c12.s12.8

Not later than the first century A. C. is the reference to Java in the *Rāmāyaṇa* in connection with the search of Sītā. The Sanskrit name of Java, *Javadvīpa* (Isle of Barley), was used by Ptolemy for his *Geography* in the second century. In the fourth century the *vahusuvarṇaka* sacrifice was performed by Mūlavarman, a king with a Hindu name, of Borneo. Canals with Hindu names, Chandrabhāgā and Gomatī, were constructed in western Java by Pūrṇavarman in the fifth century. In 413 Fa Hien was fellow passenger with two hundred Hindu merchants *en route* to Canton from Java. Ten years later Nandī is described as a Hindu ship-owner in whose boat Guṇavarman, the Buddhist missionary of Kashmir, sailed for China. Down to the end of the period we are discussing, that of the Guptas, the Hindus were always in evidence in Insulindia in diverse capacities.²⁹